


Merry Christmas

by Skilerc_leaf



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ableism, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - PTAtale, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Fantastic Racism, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Gift Fic, Mute Frisk, PTA Sans, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, with a tiny bit of seriousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9066091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skilerc_leaf/pseuds/Skilerc_leaf
Summary: It's the 21st of December, and Toriel's out of town for a few weeks. Looks like Sans'll have to take care of Frisk, Chara, and Asriel in the meantime.





	1. Beginnings (21 December)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JacklynnHelvetica](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=JacklynnHelvetica).



> A gift for my friend, JacklynnHelvetica!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins!

* Ring... ring...

"Good afternoon. This is Ebott Elementary School. Are you the parent of Chara, Frisk, and Asriel Dreemurr?"

Sans frowned. Day One of babysitting for Toriel, and the kids were already getting into trouble. Welp. It seemed to Sans that the week would not be a restful one.

"i'm their guardian. tori-- their mom's out of town, so i'm taking care of the kids for the next few weeks. what is it?"

"Chara fought with another child, and Frisk and Asriel were involved. We need you to discuss Chara's behaviour, and his--"

"their," Sans corrected absentmindedly. "yeah, i got it. i'll come over right now. in the vice-principal's office, yea?"

"Yes--"

"ok. be seein' you."

Sans knew where the vice-principal's office was. He'd been there often enough with Toriel to know the exact strokes of the ugly oil paintings hung up around the office. Such was a side effect of being the boyfriend of Chara's mother. And becoming invested in her kids' education. 

He took a shortcut there.

"hey."

The vice-principal startled. "Oh! I... You're those three's guardian. I was not expecting you to be here so soon," she said. "I believe we've met before. It's good to see you again, Mr. Sans." She offered her hand. 

"a pleasure, ma'am." Sans replied, shaking his hand. A loud noise ripped through the office. Chara, who had been standing at a side looking as if they had not decided whether to feel unrepentant or remorseful, burst out into raucous laughter. Frisk smiled and giggled. Asriel looked nervous. The last kid in the room, who Sans figured was the one who they fought with, stifled an uncertain chuckle. 

"That was inappropriate. I did not think you would do this again, especially in this situation," the vice-principal said, looking appalled. 

"well, you gas-ed wrong." 

The vice-principal was one of the less stuck-up humans, which meant Sans could mess around with her without things getting too ugly. Of course, that had never stopped Sans before, but it was nice knowing he could crack jokes without feeling as if he was being threatened. 

"Moving swiftly on," the vice-principal said, "I've contacted Lukas' mother as well. She should be arriving within the next ten minutes." The kid's name was Lukas, then. Sans noticed he had an Integrity soul. "Before she arrives, I would like to discuss Chara's behaviour with you." 

"oh boy."

Lowering her voice, the vice-principal continued, "Chara has been aggressive and antisocial towards other children. He-- they are not disruptive in class, but get into a lot of fights during recess and after school. I am concerned, both for the safety of other children and their own, and suggest consulting with professionals about Chara's behaviour." 

"ok. will do." Sans didn't like making promises, and this was feeling a whole lot like a promise, but honestly? Taming Chara would make things a heck of a lot easier for everyone. And it would make him not fear for his life every time he fell asleep in the same house as the kid. Sans wasn't sure how much these 'professionals' could help fix a kid who hated the world enough to destroy it, but hey. It was probably worth a shot. 

"Thank you for your cooperation."

"no prob."

Knocking.

A woman entered the office. Judging from the way her eyes immediately searched the room and landed on Lukas, she was Lukas' mother. Sans was surprised by how quickly she'd arrived. "Good afternoon, vice-principal." She shook the vice-principal's hand.

"Afternoon, Ms. Linda." 

"And... Chara's... guardian." Linda turned to Sans. 

"sans," he said. "sans the skeleton." 

She didn't offer her hand, and he didn't either.

There was silence for a beat or two too long, before the vice-principal broke it by clearing her throat. "So. Here's the situation. Chara got into a fight with Lukas during lunchtime. According to them both, the fight was over Frisk, and Asriel."

"frisk and asriel, huh."

"Chara and Lukas will have to do community service, every day, for a week, as punishment," the vice-principal continued. 

"cool." 

"But why?" Linda protested. "We already established over the phone that Chara started the fight--"

"Lukas was bullying Frisk and Azzy!" Chara cut in. "He called Frisk a dumb mute, and a monster-loving f--"

Sans' eyes(ockets) darkened. 

"Quiet, Chara," the vice-principal warned. "It does not matter who started the fight. They were both being misbehaving, and thus both have to be suitably punished. For the next week, they will have to do community service. They will not have to do community service on Christmas or Christmas Eve, but they will have to make up for it by continuing to serve for an extra two days after this week."

"Lukas should be enjoying his holiday, not sweeping the floors like a lowly--"

God, could this woman not be more infuriating? Her kid's done wrong, she raised him up shit, and she's screwing up what little moral values her kid has left. Sans mentally dubbed her 'piece of shit', and her son 'Lukass'. 

"They both need to be punished," the vice-principal insisted. "And they will both be able to spend time with their families on Christmas. There will be no more discussion on this; I only ask that you both to adjust your schedule to be able to pick your child up at four, instead of two in the afternoon."

"I have work," piece of shit said. 

Lukass looked confused. "But mom, you said you lost your job--" 

Ha! Bless the kid and his Integrity soul. "looks like you're talking bullshit." Sans mentally congratulated himself for his own joke. 

"The children," the vice-principal warned. Then, "Moving on, Sans, can you pick Chara up at four?"

"yep." 

"Thank you. Linda, I trust you will find time in your schedule to pick up your son?"

"Fine, I will," piece of shit huffed. "But this isn't over. I will bring this matter up at the PTA."

"ok." Sans said. "just outta curiosity. are you the president?"

"Obviously."

Sans suddenly wished he hadn't made that promise to Toriel to stand in for her as the kids' guardian at the PTA meetings while she was away. 

Welp.

It looked like the next few meetings at the PTA was going to be fun.

"i'll be taking the kids and leaving now, then." He grabbed Asriel's and Chara's hands, despite the latter protesting that they were old enough to walk on their own. Frisk held on to his jacket. "see ya." 

He found a shortcut and took them all back home.


	2. The Prince's Crown (22 December)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara does community service.

"Hey, hey, Azzy." Chara was weeding the garden, as part of their community service. It grew even in the winter, which was partly because most of the trees there were evergreen, and partly because magic protected the other plants. "Guess what I found."

"What is it?" Asriel did not need to stay back while Chara did community service, but did so anyway to keep his best friend company. Frisk was also staying back, helping to weed the garden, just because they frolicking through the garden fun.

Chara yanked out a golden flower. 

Asriel winced. "We-- plants can feel that, you know. A-and you're not supposed to do that." 

"I know," Chara replied. Then they pulled out another one. 

"Chara!" Asriel squeaked. 

Chara laughed. They pulled out another, and another.

"Chara, what are you doing?"

Chara didn't say anything. They pulled out a piece of wire - "from Alphys' lab" - and some tape. They shaped the wire into a circle, tore off some tape, and began taping the flowers very carefully to the wire. 

"Oh!" 

And there it was, on Asriel's head - a prince's crown of flowers.


	3. Brownies (22 December)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans goes to his first PTA meeting.

Take a deep breath.

Not all human parents can be as bad as that piece of shit.

(Though Sans had a feeling they might be, if the PTA was a democracy and they elected a piece of shit as their president.)

"i'm sans," he introduced. "sans the skeleton. toriel's outta town, so i'm replacing her for the next few weeks. pleasure to meet all of you." 

They had a round of introductions, though Sans could see that most were reluctant. Some were whispering among themselves. That was fine. Sans planned to only give them as much respect as they gave them. 

"Today's topic of discussion will be the Christmas celebrations," piece of shit began, handing out brownies. Sans eyed them suspiciously. According to Frisk, brownies were sweet, sugary chocolaty foods made from a mother's love. According to Chara, piece of shit's brownies tasted as much like chocolate as another brown thing, and in fact tasted a lot more like that other brown thing. And considering how much Chara loves chocolate, Sans was inclined to believe them. 

But Frisk's 'be-nice-to-everyone' mentality must've been rubbing off on it, because he took a brownie before passing it to the woman of his left - Helen, if he'd recalled correctly. 

Sans bit into the brownie. 

And spat it out instantly.

"holy shit, linda! who the hell puts vegetables into brownies?!"

Piece of shit shot him a dark look. 

"And monsters get offended when we reject their foods?" he heard Helen grumble under her breath. 

"hey, helen," Sans said in a low tone, "how about you not be racist, and comprehend how disturbing it is for someone to put vegetables into their brownies."

Helen spluttered. "How about you be polite, and comprehend how disturbing it is for someone to put magic into their food." 

"and what's wrong with magic, huh?"

"It's unnatural! As if we didn't have enough fake food already! Have you seen how many chemicals they put in food nowadays? And now you lot want to put magic into it too? Do you want everyone to die an early death?" 

"helen. you're made of chemicals. a banana plucked off a tree in the middle of a tropical forest is made of chemicals. that banana tree is made of chemicals."

Helen gave Sans a dirty look, but Sans refused to stop.

"now. apply the same logic to magic, and add the fact that we've been eating our food for the past, oh, i don't know, couple hundred years we were down in the underground." Sans studied Helen's face. It was very fascinating, how it contorted so much and so quickly. "helen?" 

"Why should I believe you over the newspapers?" 

"helen. i have a phd." 

"Bullshit."

"i can prove it--" 

"Sans, are you listening?" piece of shit barked.

"no."

Piece of shit glared at him. Sans shrugged. 

"As I was saying," piece of shit continued. "No child should have to be punished this holiday season. I suggest we approach the principal about this concern of ours, and soon." 

"you mean, your child, and this concern of yours."

Piece of shit's face contorted in a way that was very reminiscent of how Helen's face had just a few moments ago.

"Do not accuse me of favouritism! I have the best interests of every child in this school at heart." 

"you mean, you'll do anything to prevent lukass from learning from his mistakes." 

"Lukass?!"

"woops." Sans shrugged. "slip of the tongue." 

Piece of shit fumed. 

"Anyway!" piece of shit huffed, "Is everyone in favour of approaching the principal? Raise your hand if you agree."

There was murmuring, but no parent raised their hand. They all seemed mostly indifferent to the subject, and thoroughly unmoved by piece of shit's speech. 

Seeing as the PTA was a democracy, and no one wanted to approach the principal with this request, piece of shit was forced to either go through with her ridiculous plan on her own, or not act on it. Sans figured she'd still storm into the principal's office anyway, and give a speech as eloquent and persuasive as the speech she'd just given. 

"Seeing as nobody wants to back me up on this," piece of shit said, after it was clear that no one was going to support her, "I will convince the principal myself."

"tibia 'nest, i feel pretty sorry for the principal."

"Excuse me?!"

"just tellin' the truth." 

Piece of shit simmered. "I don't care what you think!" she snapped. "Moving on!" she said, before Sans could respond. She seemed pretty smug about having gotten the last word in their exchange. "We need to discuss the food situation at the Christmas celebration. Jordan proposed a buffet. Does everyone like this idea?"

Sans shrugged. It seemed... surprisingly harmless. The kids would love it. Sans felt his spirits begin to soar. There were sensible people in the PTA after all! And the rest of the parents looked as if they were agreeing with the idea, which was even better! He knew not all of them were like that piece of shit and Helen! 

"Good!" Piece of shit looked pleased. "Now, I suggest that instead of ordering from a caterer, we prepare the dishes ourselves. I will make my signature brownies--" 

Sans' spirits plummeted. 

"oh god, noooooooo!" 


	4. Gifts (23 December)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids get presents during the school celebration.

The day of the school Christmas celebrations - 23 December - finally rolled around. Sans was nervous, because piece of shit had brought her poison brownies. Frisk was delighted. Asriel was curious to see how much Christmas differed from Gyftmas. Chara was... well. 

"Ewww! Sans, what is this fake chocolate doing here?" 

Chara had found the piece of shit's brownies. 

"it's linda's."

Chara looked disgusted. 

It can't be that bad! They're brownies, after all. Frisk picked up one of the brownies, and bit into it. Sans watched as Frisk promptly threw the rest away and force themself to swallow whatever they'd bitten off.

"you're too nice, kid. i spat mine out at the pta meeting."

Frisk looked as if they didn't know whether to laugh or express their displeasure. Sans ruffled their hair.

"Sans! Sans, they put gifts under a tree too!" Asriel ran up to Sans with two wrapped boxes in his arms. "Look, I found two with my name on it!" 

"really? heh, i've got to see this. maybe linda left me a gift. i sure did leave her one."

Asriel looked skeptical. Frisk asked, What is it?

"it's just a mug in the shape of a toilet. y'know, because she talks a whole load of cra-- poop." 

Frisk clapped. Chara, who overheard the last bits of their conversation after tossing the entire tray of piece of shit's brownies into the trash, thought it was great revenge. Asriel looked uncertain, but seemed to figure that she probably deserved it.

"let's go see what other gifts there are."

In the end, they found a present with Chara's name on it, and a whole pile with Frisk's. Frisk was delighted. Chara looked salty. Asriel seemed pleased with the number of presents he got, and looked happy for Frisk. 

Welp, there was no way Sans was going to be able to teleport so many gifts back home, unless Frisk could somehow fit them all into their inventory and dimensional boxes. 

"hey, paps. gonna need you to come by the school at four."

"OKAY! BUT WHY? I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU COULD BRING THEM HOME THROUGH ONE OF YOUR 'SHORTCUTS'."

"yeah, but i didn't account for all of frisk's gifts."

"THE HUMAN HAS PRESENTS?" Papyrus gasped. "WOWIE! IT MUST BE HUMAN GYFTMAS, THEN! ARE THERE ANY FOR ME?"

"uh..." Sans glanced at the dismal pile of presents left under the tree. He doubted any were addressed to Papyrus; while he often volunteered at the school, he wasn't part of the PTA or the staff and thus probably had none addressed to him. "... yeah, there're loads for you. but they're with santa claus right now. santa claus will deliver them straight to our house during the actual human gyftmas day, ok? that's, uh, in two days." 

"WOWIE! I MUST'VE BEEN REALLY GOOD THIS YEAR, TO BE GETTING SO MANY PRESENTS! AND OF COURSE I CAN WAIT TWO MORE DAYS! I'VE BEEN WAITING A WHOLE YEAR!"

"sure, bro," Sans chuckled. "see ya at four."

"GOODBYE, BROTHER! SEE YOU SOON! I LOVE YOU."

Sans smiled. 

"love you too, bro."


	5. A Message (25 December)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas Day. Toriel receives a message from Frisk.

Frisk sent you a message!

Toriel opened up her messenger app. It was a video, sent by Frisk. Toriel smiled. It was good to receive updates from her children. She never stopped worrying about them. She played the video. 

Merry Christmas, Mom!

"MERRY HUMAN GYFTMAS, LADY TORIEL!" 

"merry christmas, tori."

"Merry Christmas, Mom!"

"... Merry Christmas, Mom."

The video cut to a clip of Frisk. They started signing. 

Merry Christmas, Mom! We've been having a great time here! Sans and Papyrus are taking really good care of us. Sans even helped Papyrus prepare spaghetti for dinner! Of course, I really, really wish you were here... but I know how important your job as a diplomat is. Besides, what I really want this Christmas is for monsters and humans to coexist peacefully!

I love you, Mom!

Toriel smiled. Frisk was so sweet, and so mature for their age. It made her heart ache, to know how quickly Frisk grew up, but Frisk's maturity was also something Toriel was endlessly proud of. The video then cut to a clip of Chara.

"... Hey, Mom. So... I got into some trouble at school 'cause I punched a kid who deserved it. He made fun of Frisk and said some really, really horrible things about monsters that Asriel said I shouldn't repeat. Now I have to do community service." Chara huffed. "I don't get it! Why do I have to get punished when I wasn't the one in the wrong?" A short pause. Then, "I kinda miss you. Frisk and Asriel too. Can you come home soon?"

Toriel sighed. She'd heard about Chara getting into trouble from Sans. She'd have to have a long talk with Chara when she got back. Chara was certainly not an easy child. But she loved them, dearly. And she knew Chara loved her back; what Chara said in the video may be the closest they'd ever get to saying 'I love you, but she appreciated Chara's efforts in expressing their love anyway. The video cut to a clip of Asriel.

"Hi, Mom!" Asriel chirped. "Chara got into big trouble with the school, and I'm sure they'll tell you all about it, but one day Chara was weeding the garden and they made me this!" Asriel produced a golden flower crown. "Chara plucked the flowers off one of the bushes and I told them they really shouldn't, but they didn't listen. But it's really pretty, and I really like it. Chara made it three days ago, and I maintained it with my magic so it won't wilt. I think I did a good job!" Asriel smiled. "Oh! We made gifts for you, and Dad too! For when you two come back from your diplomatic mission. I can't wait for you two to come back! Be safe!" 

Oh, Asriel... her firstborn, and a bundle of joy, despite everything that had happened to him. Toriel's heart warmed upon seeing the gift Chara had made for Asriel (though she made a mental note to tell Chara off for picking flowers from the school garden). The video cut to the next clip.

"hey, tori." It was Sans. "merry christmas. hope it's going fine on your end. the kids are really missing you." A pause. "oh, yea. i forgot to mention this. the vice-principal also talked about getting professionals to help, uh, get chara's behaviour under control. i think it'd be real good for the kid, and the rest of us, too." Another pause. "i miss you. none of these kids can appreciate a good pun. except frisk, but the kid appreciates everything." Yet another pause. "yea, that's all i've got to say for now. see ya soon, tori." 

Sans. The suggestion to get Chara professional help was a good one, and she would look into it immediately when she got back. She just hoped Chara would be cooperative and accept the help. And as for what he said about missing her... well. It was just like Sans to brush off a statement like that with a joke. She knew what he meant, though, and had heard the unspoken love you, come back to me safe. And that, strangely enough, was good enough for her.

"LADY TORIEL!" Papyrus' voice burst through the tiny speakers of her phone. Judging from the way his voice crackled, Papyrus must be shouting loud enough for even the microphone to be recoiling. "IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WE ARE HAVING A REALLY LOVELY TIME, CELEBRATING HUMAN GYFTMAS! YOUR CHILDREN ARE VERY NICE PEOPLE TO BE SPENDING HUMAN GYFTMAS WITH. ASRIEL AND FRISK LOVE MY PUZZLES! CHARA, LESS SO, BUT I'M SURE THEY'LL GROW TO LOVE THEM SOMEDAY! THE CHILDREN REALLY MISS YOU, THOUGH. AND SO DOES SANS, EVEN THOUGH HE DOESN'T SAY IT! I MISS YOU TOO, EVEN THOUGH WE AREN'T REALLY THAT CLOSE! I HOPE YOU AND KING FLUFFYBUNS WILL COME BACK HOME SOON! GOODBYE!" He waved enthusiastically. The video then ended. 

Oh, Papyrus. His innocent nature meant he would be a good influence on the children, especially Chara, while he stayed with them. It was good to know that her children were getting along well with him. 

Toriel typed back a message.

Hello, my child! I love you, too! Tell everybody that Asgore and I will be coming back on the last day of the year, just in time for the New Year! I look forward to seeing all of you again! 

She began typing more, but kept deleting them. How could words on a screen ever express everything she wanted to say to all five of them right now? She wanted to hug them, to kiss them, but all those things were better expressed in person than through words on a phone. But the reality was that she was miles away from them, with only words and 'emojis' to express the depth of her emotions. 

So, she added at the end of her message a kissing emoji, followed by multiple heart emojis. She reminded herself to thank Alphys for showing her how to, and then, satisfied, sent the message.

She couldn't wait to see them all again.


End file.
